Broken Phantasm
by Mini Nephthys
Summary: As it turns out, the only way to be a worse Master than Emiya Shirou is to not be a mage at all. Not that Issei doesn't do his best. Issei and Archer-centric. Unrequited Issei x Shirou.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** No, you still haven't gotten rid of me. And I'm still writing Issei fic. I like Issei fic.

Um, this is actually my first attempt at writing anything adventure-y. With a plot that spans multiple chapters, even. To be honest, it's my first non-oneshot other than Leanne's Diary, which is sort of plotless, so if I fail at this let me know, okay?

* * *

The Fifth Grail War. A strange war from the start, with eight Servants and seven - quickly six - Masters. Two of the Masters, Tohsaka Rin and Emiya Shirou, became the victors in many versions of the war.

In one timeline, a few things were different.

One, a catalyst to summon a particular Servant was possessed that usually was not. An insignificant item, but enough to establish a connection that equaled the link the spirit had with another Master.

Two, the possessor of the aforementioned catalyst happened to stumble into the summoning circle used previously to summon another Servant and somehow managed to summon a Servant without an incantation. Historians debated how that happened in arguments that mirrored the ones about Emiya Shirou in most timelines. Their best conclusion was, "To make things more interesting."

* * *

Issei greeted his friend with a cheerful, "Good morning, Emiya."

"Good morning, Issei. The other student council members aren't here yet?" Emiya asked.

It was an ordinary day.

"Unfortunately not," Issei replied with a small sigh. "I've tried getting them to put in more of an effort, but they refuse to listen."

"That's a problem…" Emiya said. "So, what am I doing today?"

Later, they would both look back on how unusually ordinary that day was.

"Hm? There's no rush. Please, sit down," the student council president answered. "I insist that you get some rest."

Emiya pulled himself a chair. "Thanks, Issei."

They could be forgiven for not noticing it at the time.

"No problem. If you didn't show up to help me, you could sleep in later, so this is the least I can do," Issei reasoned.

"You say that, but I think I would still have to get up and wake Fuji-nee at the normal time anyway," Emiya pointed out.

After all, there was no reason for them to expect anything unusual to happen.

"I guess you're right…" Issei admitted. "But I can't just let you keep working for me every day for no reward, either."

Emiya smiled at him reassuringly. "I don't mind."

Issei frowned. "Ha… saying things like that just makes me worry more about you."

"Sorry," Emiya answered, sounding anything but. "Now, what can I do for you?"

Certainly, what happened that day was something beyond the scope of 'expect the unexpected'. It was much closer to 'expect the impossible'.

* * *

Issei had no special feelings about cleaning the temple floors. It was boring. It was menial labor. It had to be done. It often fell upon him to do it. When he was told to mop the floors, invariably he sighed, found a mop and bucket, and went to work.

He wondered, if half of these rooms hadn't been used in months, how their floors managed to get so dirty. Certainly the rooms with layers of dust over their floors could be excused, but why did he need to mop the floor of every closet? What kinds of things did people _put_ on the floors of closets?

He had finished with one closet and was about to move onto the next room when something caught his eye. A book sat innocuously on one of the shelves. The book was about archery. More importantly, he had borrowed it from Emiya and promised to bring it back several months ago. Naturally, he forgot about it.

"And even though I was months late, he never brought it up again." Issei sighed and plucked it off its shelf. "How typical of Emiya. I'll have to return it to him tomorrow."

Tucking the book under his arm, he attempted to open the door of the next room, only to find it locked. "This happens every time," he groused, fishing his master key out of his pocket. It opened easily. "Someone always locks the door behind them, and because it's not a room they use often they for-"

The room was covered in blood.

No, that wasn't quite right. The walls were pristine. Even the floor wasn't covered in it. It just had a complex, obviously deliberately-drawn circle drawn across most of the floor that was made with blood.

Issei thought about his word choice mainly to keep himself from thinking about the fact that _there was blood on the floor_. It only worked for a few seconds. "W…what? I'm… I'm dreaming, or something, why would there be - what _is_ this?"

If he had turned and fled, things would have gone differently.

If he had remembered his mop and wiped away part of the circle, things would have gone differently.

If he had put the book down before stepping onto the circle, things would have gone differently.

He didn't. Almost as if in a trance, Issei moved forward. The tip of his foot touched the edge of the circle-

Pain. An absolute, searing pain stung at his right hand. He clutched it and watched in horror as three red lines - blood? blood wasn't that shade - curled around each other.

The room filled with sweltering heat. Distantly, he heard the crashing sounds of what must have been the objects in the room flying about, though he could barely make it out over the pounding in his ears. He shut his eyes tightly - _when I open them again everything will be normal_.

The heat died down. The crashing sounds stopped. Issei sighed in relief. He almost hadn't been sure that that would work-

A deep voice shattered his illusion. "Are you my Master?"

Slowly, Issei opened his eyes.

A man stood in front of him. Tall, dark-skinned, and white-haired, he looked absolutely nothing like any of the monks in the temple. None of them would have been wearing armor - _that _is_ armor, right?_ - underneath their red coats. None of them would have been glaring at him like they were disappointed he was taking so long to come up with an answer.

"…No?"

And none of them would have given him an even slightly surprised look at that. What part of walking into a circle of blood made you the master of the person who suddenly appeared?

…Why was that man holding Issei's wrist? Well, it was obvious that he was doing it to get a better look at those red marks, but why was he _holding_ his _wrist_?

Issei flushed, and just as soon the man let go. "Tch, and I thought I would be summoned by someone who had a clue what he was doing. Well, it can't be helped." The man sighed. "My Master is my Master, and I have a duty to protect him. If you stay and hide in this place, you should be safe no matter how incompetent-"

"In the next sixty seconds," Issei hissed, "you will either tell me what on earth you're going on about or you will _get out of my temple_."

"You mean you don't-"

"Fifty-six."

"What kind of mage-"

"Fifty-one."

"I'm a Servant and you summoned me in order to take part in a war for the Holy Grail."

Issei paused before answering, a tad less harshly, "Can we discuss this somewhere where there isn't blood on the floor? I think I might be sick if I stay in here much longer."

* * *

"So, to recap."

Issei tried to avoid looking at the man leaning against his bedroom wall. He gripped the book he'd carried into that room tightly and began to summarize. "Servants, or heroic spirits, are summoned into this world by magi. The Servants fight and kill each other in an effort to be the last one remaining. The last Servant and his or her Master each get a wish from the Holy Grail.

"Servants are able to exist in this world because their Masters provide them with mana. Not being a mage, I don't have any mana to personally provide. However, you believe that your current source of mana is the ground on which this temple is built.

"The marks on my hand are Command Spells. They can be used to order you to do something that you do not wish to do, or something you are not usually able to do. Using all of them will make me no longer your Master. …However, I will probably not live for very long after that, so it's not a good idea.

"While it's only necessary to get rid of all the opposing Servants to win the war, epic spirits like them are difficult to defeat. Since the Master is the one allowing for the Servant's continued existence, it's usually more economical to take out the Master. While that won't work in your case, because your mana comes from the temple, our enemies don't know that and will attempt to kill me. Did I miss anything important?"

The Servant shook his head. "You catch on quickly, for someone who isn't even a mage," he noted.

"There are people who are going to be trying to kill me, and right now it looks like they would be easily able to. I'd say this was evening the playing field, but I'm still outclassed by a wide margin," Issei replied. "Which reminds me…"

He got off of his bed and bowed low. "I apologize for my inability to assist you. You ought to have a proper Master in order to get your wish fulfilled. I'll only be a handicap to you."

The other man blinked at him. "…Well, it's not precisely your fault that someone left a summoning circle lying around," he admitted quietly. "It _is_ a handicap, but not one that I can't work with."

"So I'm forgiven for being a terrible Master?" Issei asked as he straightened up.

"I suppose," the man sighed. "There's nothing I can do about it either way."

Issei chuckled. "I'll pretend that that's a yes. Now then… My name is Ryudo Issei. What should I call you?"

He answered simply, "Archer."

* * *

"…This is a little unnerving," Issei confessed softly as he - they walked through the halls of the temple. "I mean, of course I prefer it over having to explain to my father who you are, but it's strange talking to someone you can't see."

"You'll get used to it," Archer assured him.

"I hope-" At seeing another person around the corner, Issei shut his mouth. At seeing exactly which person was around the corner, he let his mouth hang open again.

Kuzuki's fiancée smiled at him warmly before brushing past him. "Good evening, Ryudo."

Desperately, he tried to make his vocal chords work again. "…G-Good evening." After he was sure that she had gone, he let out a sigh of relief. "…That was Kuzuki's fiancée. As you can see, she's a beautiful woman."

"So she appears," Archer replied, a hard edge to his voice.

Issei frowned. "You don't like her? That's strange… Apart from my brother, I can't think of anyone in the temple who doesn't adore her."

"Issei, turn around."

Confused, Issei complied with the request. The woman had stopped further down the hall and was staring off to the side of Issei at what would have looked like nothing in particular, had he not known that Archer was standing there.

"She's another Servant."


	2. Chapter 2

The Servant's smile widened to a frightening degree. "How interesting."

Issei tensed, expecting an attack at any second.

"Why don't we continue this conversation somewhere more private?" she asked instead, turning and continuing on her way.

He blinked, and asked his companion, "Should we really follow the person who wants to kill us? Doesn't that fly in the face of all reason…?"

"…If we share a roof with a Servant, this is bound to happen eventually," Archer answered, materializing next to him. "Let's see how she plans to fight without alerting the entire temple."

* * *

'Somewhere more private' turned out to be Kuzuki's room. Impassively, he watched Issei enter.

Issei froze in the doorway. "Kuzuki, you - this is strange to ask, but would you mind leaving?" Hopefully, Kuzuki wouldn't want an explanation for why he had to leave his own room…

"There is no need," he replied. "Caster is my Servant."

Archer brushed past Issei in order to stand protectively in front of him. "So you're the owner of that summoning circle."

The teacher shook his head. "I am not a mage."

"…And here I was assuming that a battle between magi would have magi in it. How foolish of me," Archer said, sounding irritated. "Caster, you realize that a battle here-"

Caster smiled again, something that had seemed infinitely less menacing before Issei knew who she was. "Who said anything about a battle?" Then she focused her attention on Issei. "Do you intend to participate in this war? I could remove you from it if you so desired. You would, of course, have to lose the arm with your Command Spells-"

His face paled and he shook his head frantically. "That's really not necessary, and anyway it would be sort of suspicious if I lost an arm, I don't know how to explain that!"

Her smile widened. "So squeamish? You do know that you will have to kill to survive this war."

"Kill people who are already dead and won't really be affected by dying again," he corrected, not sounding as nonchalant as he intended. "…It's not something that I can say whether I'd be able to do so or not right now, but… I'll have to see when it comes to that."

"I see." Caster sighed. "…It's against my nature, but I'll have to propose a temporary alliance."

Issei asked suspiciously, "What kind of alliance?"

"We will both defend this temple. If Souichirou and I are aware of your battles, we will assist you in them; the same applies to you and our battles," she explained. "Do not misunderstand: you have nothing to offer me, Ryudo, but your Servant will be useful. And he is correct in saying that a battle here would be difficult."

"…Could I consult with Archer for a moment?" Issei asked.

"Of course," Kuzuki answered.

The moment they stepped out of the room, Archer said, "I don't trust her."

"Neither do I," his Master agreed, "but I still think we should join with her. Since we're both pairs without a proper Master, individually we're outmatched by every other pair."

"That's true," Archer began, "but it's still suspicious. Caster offered that without even knowing my class, let alone how strong I was. She has no idea which one of us is benefiting more."

Issei narrowed his eyes. "Has it occurred to you that perhaps the man I consider to be an older brother might not want to fight me? Not every decision is based on strategy."

"…Fine. But we can't trust her, Issei. She's not the woman you thought she was."

"She could be the woman I thought she was and still be willing to kill us if we get in her way." With that, Issei stepped back inside the room. "We accept."

"Wonderful," Caster answered, sounding almost sincere. Almost. "May our alliance be profitable for both of us."

* * *

Going to school, Issei reminded himself, had been the only option.

His absence would be suspicious. And besides, Archer was there to protect him (Independent Action, he was told, one of the many benefits of being an Archer class), so it was perfectly safe. Kuzuki was going without Caster, so there must not have been any risk.

…Something about that bothered him, but he wasn't sure what.

And it was still awkward to travel with Archer. He knew the Servant was there, but making conversation with someone no one could see would attract attention.

He breathed a sigh of relief when the door of the student council room closed behind them and they were in private, although he kept his voice down just in case. "Welcome to Homurabara Gakuen. I doubt there are any other Masters here, so we can relax our guard a bit."

"What makes you say that?" Archer asked.

Issei shrugged. "The war is for powerful magi, you said. Naturally, they would be adults rather than teenagers. Besides, the odds of there being three Masters out of seven at this school-"

"Issei, you there?" a voice called out as the door opened. Emiya stepped inside.

"-ah, yes. Good morning, Emiya." _Please don't ask me who I was talking to, please don't ask me who I was talking to. I thought I was quiet enough, but-_

Emiya frowned. "Just you, Issei?"

_I said not to ask me! Now what am I going to d-_

"Where are the others? Shouldn't they be here by now as well?"

Issei coughed and tried not to look so panicked. "N-no. They don't like coming early," he answered in a voice that only quavered a little.

…was that his heart thumping or Archer beating his own head against the wall? Probably the former, but it was difficult to say…

He changed the subject. "Emiya. I apologize for having forgotten about this for so long," he said, tapping the book on the desk, "but after much delay, I'm ready to return this to you."

Emiya raised an eyebrow before recognition dawned. "I forgot I even had that," he replied, picking up the book. "But thanks for giving it back, Issei."

"Don't mention it," Issei answered with a small smile. "…Hmm, we're running a little late today. If you don't mind working, would you come with me?"

* * *

"You think it can be fixed, Emiya?"

Emiya knelt in front of the broken heater and rolled up his sleeves. "Yup. In this case, old things are nice because they're easy to understand. It's just a shortened connection, so it should last the whole year if we replace that," he explained.

Issei had no more idea what a shortened connection was than what a conductive wire was, but that sounded about right. "I see! Good job, Emiya. I'm always pleased when you're so reliable."

Emiya chuckled. "You're wording it weirdly, Issei… Oh, I'll be finished soon, so could you wait outside for a bit?"

"All right, I'll be out of your way." Issei stepped outside, intending to get a few words in with Archer.

Instead, he had a change of plans. "-Gah, Tohsaka."

Tohsaka smiled at him brightly. "Oh, Student President. Are you patrolling the school building this early in the morning? Or perhaps taking care of the club rooms? Not that I care, but you're certainly diligent."

"Hmph! What are you doing here so early? You're certainly not in any clubs," Issei answered, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

And thus began yet another of their arguments. It was nice to know that, despite everything, some things hadn't changed.

* * *

The sky was dark by the time Emiya and Issei reached the intersection where they parted ways (after some words were exchanged about Emiya's habit of being too helpful, which Issei doubted he really took to heart; they'd had practically the exact same conversation five times now).

"…well, what do you think?" he asked Archer, walking along the empty street. "Since you're stuck guarding me for a while, it's natural to ask your opinion of my classmates."

"I don't like him," Archer answered simply.

Issei raised an eyebrow. "Emiya? That's strange; he's a good person… Maybe you'll get to like him once you know him better."

"…I doubt that."

"Your loss. …Don't tell me that you like Tohsaka, though. Then I'll have to disown you for having bad taste."

"I would be fonder of her if she wasn't likely a Master, and thus my opponent," Archer said honestly.

Issei blinked. "…you can tell that kind of thing?"

"No, but the Tohsaka family was one of the ones who started the Grail Wars. I doubt that there has been a war they haven't entered."

"So she _is_ a witch," Issei muttered triumphantly. "I _knew_ it."

Archer sighed. "Don't let it go to your head."

* * *

They were at the foot of the stairs to the temple when Archer stopped and swiveled around.

"Archer? What's-"

"_Run._"

Issei ran. He dashed as quickly as he could to the top of the stairs. Knowing the layout of the steps let him not fear tripping on a loose stone; he was far more afraid of the sounds of clashing metal coming behind him.


End file.
